by Saxon Andrew
His panel beeped and he saw his assistant, “Sir, the President of the Unity has requested to speak with you.”
Serge’s eyes narrowed and, after a moment, responded, “Put him through.”
The President appeared and said, “Is there anything I can do to stop this?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“This is not being recorded and is on a private frequency. I will step down and ask that you take my place if you’ll call this off.” Serge stared at the President with narrowed eyes as he said, “There are billions of innocent beings on the Government Planet,” the President pleaded.
Serge waved his hand at the communicator, “There are no innocent beings on that planet. They’re all involved in the government in one form or another.”
“Their families and children aren’t.”
“They are tainted by the ones that are.”
“Will you accept my offer and become President of the Unity?”
“Mr. President, I do not believe this conversation is not being recorded but even if it weren’t, I do not know why you have accused me of such hideous behavior. Even if I chose to take advantage of this farce and take the office you’re offering, I’d be assassinated as soon as I set foot on the planet. I have no desire to have any role in the Unity. Quite frankly, your heavy handed tactics of forcing planets to join sicken me.”
“The peace the Unity brought to the galaxy has allowed you to trade and prosper. Romania, more than any other planet, has grown and prospered beyond any other in the galaxy.”
“Without your incessant tampering, it would have grown even more.”
“You would have monopolized the entire economy if we didn’t make things fair for the other planets.”
“Tell it to someone who cares, Mr. President.”
“What if I shut down the government and send all of our warships to you to do as you want with them?”
Serge looked at the President and was really tempted by the offer. But the beast would still be alive. It could just as easily be brought back to life; but this way, there was a certainty that wouldn’t happen. “You’re talking insanity. This conversation is over.”
Serge ended the call and the President looked at his pilot, “Get us out of here.” The President’s Ship was located at a giant intersection with hundreds of filaments that crossed each other. His ship flashed into a giant filament and boosted to high speed. “Sir, I have a huge fleet of warships on the opposite side of the filament headed toward the Zegar Quadrant.”
“Are they Romanov’s ships?”
“No, Sir. They aren’t but they appear to have huge military transports along with thousands of warships.”
“What filament are we currently on?”
“It’s called the 440 and moves at an incredible speed.”
“Boost to a faster speed and get by them as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ve just received a message from the ships we had with us at the intersection that six hundred Romanov Warships just arrived and are fanning out into the filaments.”
“They won’t be able to catch us. Maintain this course and we’ll come back after a few weeks to see what’s happened. I’m depending on you to make sure we aren’t followed.”
“Yes, Sir. Are you certain one of those devices isn’t on this ship?”
The president’s eyes narrowed as he said, “I honestly don’t know.” That was the last thing the President said as his ship exploded into vapor and was scattered along the 440 filament.
• • •
“Why didn’t you tell the President his ship was mined, Leonidas?” Desiree asked.
Leonidas sighed, “I am hoping that our devices prevent the teleport modules from sending their explosives.”
“But I would think that you’d want the President’s Ship to survive.”
Leo sighed heavily, “I have given a lot of thought to what is going to happen when the Romanov Technicians load the explosives into the sending modules and press the button to launch them. I have to believe that most of the sending modules are not on Romania but will be launched from Serge’s secret building locations. Serge will order the first wave of launches to be delivered against the Unity’s fleets and Cruet. If just one launcher fails, the other modules might not be used until they investigate what caused the failure.”
Desiree’s eyebrows went up, “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.”
“Well, if I’m right and they send all the explosives simultaneously, how long will they be set to detonate after arrival?”
Embree shouted from his console, “It is going to be quick.”
Leo nodded, “They’ll have to be. The nuclear material will be immediately detectable when it arrives in the receiving module. What happens if the sending module is not able to send it to a receiver that is being blocked by our devices? What if our electronic blocking devices prevents them from operating?”
Everyone on the bridge stared at Leo and Barney said, “Then it will go up inside the sending module. I don’t think there will be enough time to open the module and shut it down before the timer expires.”
“And if one sending module explodes when they launch on the Unity…”
Embree said, “They will delay the other launches on Tortuga and the Insectoids to check out what’s going on.”
Desiree stared at Leo and said, “You’re hoping the second wave of launches being sent to the Insectoid Planets and Tortuga will all go up together.”
“I couldn’t risk saving the President and revealing a flaw in their plan. I really believe he would understand why but I just couldn’t take the risk.”
“What do you think Serge is going to do first?”
“Carl, he’s going to take out the Unity Fleets first to prevent them from getting to Romania and attacking the fleets he has to be bringing there. Once that’s done, the Government Planet will be next followed by the Insectoids and Tortuga being attacked simultaneously.”
Embree spoke up suddenly, “Braxel reports that all the warships above the Government Planet have just gone up in massive explosions.”
Leo sighed, “Contact Blakely and tell him to get moving. Is the Romanov ship still hanging around in the Tortuga Filament?”
“It is and it will see the fleets leaving orbit.”
“Send the ships at the intersection to take it out.” Embree nodded and pressed a button on his console.”
• • •
“Sir, all of the Pirate Ships in orbit around Tortuga are moving out of orbit.” The Chief nodded and then heard, “SIR, I HAVE TWENTY WARSHIPS MOVING IN AND OPENING FIRE ON…”
The display went dark and the Chief took a deep breath. It didn’t matter. Most of those Pirates would be dead in a few minutes along with their planet. He didn’t like killing so many beings in this endeavor but that is what happens in war and Romanov was going to war. The plan had been in the works for decades and was now being put into motion. Stopping him was not an option. Even trying would cause his death.
He missed his wife and knew that he had been manipulated by Serge with a total disregard of his emotions. But he knew who Serge was and wasn’t surprised by it. He would have to pull his life together and start over once this was done. Thank God they didn’t have any children. He would make sure that next time he did. He tried to talk Serge out of this plan and risked his life doing so. He didn’t attempt to change his mind again.
• • •
Gem listened to the transmissions being sent from the Thermopylae and Billy said, “That’s why Leo didn’t want the fleets at Tortuga leaving before Romanov started attacking the Unity.”
Gem nodded, “If he had moved the fleets early, Romanov would have taken them out first and then started on the Unity. It had to be timed this way.”
Billy looked at his monitor and lowered his head, “Cruet has just gone up in a massive explosion. Braxel reports that the surface of every continent is covered with molten lava fro
m massive fractures in the planet’s surface. The atmosphere was blown away in the initial explosion.”
Gem lowered his eyes and Billy said, “More than twelve billion beings from all the inhabited planets lived on that planet.”
“Were any able to escape?” Ana asked.
Billy looked at Ana, “Thousands of private shuttles and commercial vessels lifted from the planet and left orbit immediately after the President’s speech. Most of them were far enough away to survive but the devastation to the planet was pretty complete. The few thousands of ships that managed to leave in time are headed toward the filament to try and go to a safe place.”
Ana shook her head, “I should have killed him.”
Gem clacked and said, “Then his daughter would be doing this. You wouldn’t have accomplished anything, Ana.”
“You told me this before but at least that monster would have paid for what he’s doing.”
“The universe has a way of balancing things, Ana. We might not be able to balance the scales at this moment but ultimately, I believe Serge will pay for what he’s doing.” Gem looked at Billy, “How long before the Fellowship Fleets arrive.”
“About ten hours.”
Gem lifted his communicator, “Attention all crewmembers. Start practicing on your weapon consoles. Use the training programs that have large numbers of enemy vessels attacking our ship. I want all of you to stand down five hours from now and get some rest. That is all.”
Gem looked at Ana, we need to try and get some sleep before we leave for Romania.” He looked at the bridge crew, “Alternate and all of you get some rest.”
“How are we going to sleep?” Jack asked.
“Sleep will be hard but rest will help in what’s coming. If you can release your fear of dying, it will be easier.”
“Are you afraid of dying, Sir?”
Gem looked at Billy, “Somethings are worth dying for and this is one of those things. I only hope I can make my life worthy by taking as many of the evil ones as possible with me.”
Gem took Ana’s hand and they left the bridge. Billy leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, he was snoring. Jack rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He thought about his life and the many times he had almost died fighting as a mercenary. If he died now…Gem was right. It was worth it and perhaps he would be remembered by those he was fighting to save. It took a while, but sleep finally found him.
• • •
Serge Romanov was ecstatic. His plan was going off like a charm and the images sent from the Unity Planet was more than he ever hoped for; complete and total destruction. He stood up and danced a jig and thought that the ditzy blonde was right, sometimes dancing could be quite enjoyable. He went back to his console and stood beside it as he lifted the communicator. The Chief appeared on his display and he laughed before saying, “Now it’s time to remove the Insects and Pirates.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ll issued the orders now.” Serge started dancing again and jumped up and clicked his heels together. This galaxy was his for the taking. His console beeped and he lifted the communicator, “Yes!”
The Chief looked at him and said, “Sir, all of our construction facilities have just gone up in massive explosions.”
Serge’s eyes narrowed as he fell into his chair. “What are you saying?”
“Sir, all two hundred locations blew up simultaneously. We have no way of knowing how it was done; there’s nothing left to investigate.”
“What about the Insects and Pirates?”
“Our ships close to their locations have stopped reporting. I have no way of knowing if the devices were successful in destroying them.”
“Get some ships out now!! I want to know what’s happening!!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“What about the warships still at the building locations?”
The Chief hesitated and said, “None have survived.”
“How many ships were destroyed?”
“About ten thousand.”
Serge was shocked but managed to ask, “How many were on their way here?”
“Fifty-six thousand had left the building sites prior to their destruction, Sir.”
Serge shook his head, “CONTACT ALL OF THE ARMED COMMERCIAL SHIPS AND GET ME SOME ANSWERS ABOUT THE INSECTS AND PIRATES!!” Serge was stunned. All of the devices that controlled the receiving modules on all the galaxy’s inhabited planets were located at those construction sites. It was going to be impossible to connect another sending module to them without knowing their individual receiving frequencies and that information went up with the sites. He would have to send new receiving modules and that would pose problems now that the planets knew about their existence. But…the Unity was gone and he possessed the largest fleet of warships in the galaxy. The galaxy was still his. He just had to go out and take it. He sat at his console wondering how his plan had taken the severe hit to it and saw the first vessels of his massive fleets arriving above the planet on his huge wall monitor. Soon, there was a flood of incoming warships and they formed up in huge ranks in orbit above Romania. He began to feel his tension start to fade and he forced a smile. This was only a setback. But who had done this? He felt his tension rise again. Who could it be?
Serge sighed looked at his console and saw hundreds of messages arriving from the inhabited planets but he ignored them and his assistants told the callers that he was unavailable. He would issue an announcement and tell them that he had nothing to do with Cruet’s destruction. He would profess his innocence and call for an investigation to find out who had carried out this terroristic action. All he needed was some time for the event to lose some steam before he began taking steps to consolidate his economic hold on the galaxy. He would lower his prices to demonstrate his sorrow at what had taken place which would effectively put all of his competitors out of business. Once the rest of the galaxy was dependent on his electronic components, he would triple the prices and forbid any other planets from building competitive industries. He had the warships to make it stick. He pulled up the preplanned speech and began rehearsing. He worked hard on the proper display of emotions. This was his moment to shine and he looked forward to it.
• • •
“Sir, Serge Romanov has sent word out to all the planets that were members of the Unity that he will be delivering a message to them in eight hours. He’s sent the frequency he will be using to contact them.”
Leo looked at Embree, “Is there any away for us to tie in to the frequency he’s using?”
“Let me work on it. I might be able to send a side-by-side video with his.”
“What is that?” Desiree asked.
“Any device receiving his communication will have the screen divided in half with him on one side and whoever is speaking on our end on the other side.” Embree paused and asked, “Who is going to deliver the message?”
Leo looked around and sighed, “I guess that would be me.”
“What are you going to say?”
“I have to think about it.” Leo was silent for a moment and said, “Is there any way to mute Serge?”
“I’ll see what I can do. You may just have to talk over him.”
Leo shrugged, “See what you can do.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Ana appeared on his display and said, “Before I put Gem on, I want to warn you that he has undergone a sort of transformation.”
“A what?”
“Leo, he used the bath.”
Desiree looked at Leo, “Bath?”
A handsome man appeared on Leo’s display and smiled, “I understand Mr. Romanov is going to address the slaves.”
Leo stared at the man and said, “GEM?”
The man smiled, “I’ve made a few changes.”
“Your mother is so going to kill you!”
“Too late. What’s done is done. I’ve resigned my title and informed her that I was staying to fight with honorable beings that deserved my devotion. Anyway, that’s not som
ething to worry about. What are you going to do about this speech Serge is going to make?”
Leo shrugged, “I’m having Embree come up with a means of sending a message over the top of his.”
“What are you going to say?”
“I’m struggling with that now.”
“May I offer some suggestions?”
“Fire away. I’m open to anything.”
Gem began speaking and, after a few minutes, Leo started smiling. He glanced at Embree, who mouthed, “I’m recording this.” Leo nodded and sat back. He didn’t concern himself with understanding every word but was amazed at Gem’s new body. Desiree was also shaking her head as she was speaking with Ana privately on her communicator. Gem was absolutely gorgeous. Why did the universe make things so difficult at the happiest of times?
• • •
The Chief tried to get a ship through the Insectoids filaments and was unsuccessful. As soon as they entered the filament, they went offline. He sent a ship to the Tortuga Filament and it was also prevented from moving toward the planet by Cartian Traffic Control. He wasn’t about to cause the loss of using the filaments by ignoring their instructions. He had no idea if the devices had functioned properly. But he was not about to tell Serge. He was in a killing mood and he decided he would delay answering his inquires as long as possible. He thought about what had happened and realized that something must have blocked the receiving modules at Tortuga and possibly the Insectoid Planets. It wouldn’t be a real problem, Serge still had a much larger fleet of warships than both of them did combined. And Serge’s fleets were modern whereas most of the Pirate Vessels were not.
He thought about it and decided that he might need to go investigate personally and get away from Romania. He contacted Serge and was told he was busy rehearsing his speech. He left a recorded message and took a shuttle off the planet to the fleets in orbit. He ordered a squadron of warships to take him to the Insectoid filament. He arrived at the Insectoid intersection and stopped his ships there. He contacted his second-in-command on Romania and ordered him to notify him if anything happened. He waited and then decided to move away from the intersection. His two hundred warships left the filament and entered normal space five hundred miles away. He left six warships at the intersection and ordered them to report if they saw any Insectoid activity. He sat back and waited. He pulled out his account card and looked at his account in the Treasury on Kellinger. A hundred and eighty billion credits worth of valuable metals and jewels. His wife had been a brilliant saver over the years if nothing else. However, it wouldn’t do any good if he was dead. Something was happening behind the scenes and he did not intend to have it jump up and bite him. Whatever it was, it should be revealing itself shortly. He settled in and waited.